The Dawn of Time
by BubblyBoo
Summary: In present day Japan, a man plots to take over the world. The only thing standing between him and global domination is an elite group of government agents. However, a single murder could put an end to their team. The victim? The young Kenji Himura...
1. The Birthday Present

A/N: This is my first attempt at fan-fiction so it might not be that good. Plus, it's based on a dream I had so it might be confusing and I'll probably have to edit it.  
  
I don't own Rurouni Kenshin and I never will.

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Chapter 1  
  
The residents of the Kamiya Dojo were busily preparing for the days festivities. It was Kenji's fifth birthday and his family had planned a party for him. The party was to last the entire day for it was also a celebration of Aoshi and Misao's marriage, which had taken place a week earlier in Kyoto. At present everyone was preparing for the guests.  
  
Yahiko and Tsubame could be seen running back and forth between the Akebeko and the Dojo with food for breakfast since no one had time to cook and they had guests to feed. Sanosuke and his friends were arranging decorations as well as tables and chairs for the guests throughout the dojo and front yard. Kaoru was supervising all this, giving directions when necessary, while being followed closely by Ayame and Suzume whom nodded at her every word. In the midst of all this, Kenshin was hopelessly chasing Kenji around trying to dress him in a new navy blue kimono.  
  
"Kenji-chan, please get dressed, the guests will arrive soon." Kenshin gasped.  
  
Not only was Kenji fast, but also very cunning. He would run under chairs, tables, between people's legs, anything to slow his father down and put as far a distance as possible between him and the kimono. He despised kimonos, mainly because he found them to be restricting, making it impossible for him to run around and play.  
  
"No! Father, why can't I just wear my normal gi?" Kenji innocently inquired  
  
Kenshin sighed, "You know that today is a special day and guests will be coming, that they will. Now will you please get dressed?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
As he turned to escape he ran right into Sanosuke who grabbed him and lifted him high into the air.  
  
"LEM'ME GO!" the child yelled desperately attempting to kick his captor.  
  
"Get dressed first" the gangster replied  
  
"Arigatou Sano, will you please get dressed now Kenji-chan?" asked Kenshin  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Listen kid, you really should get ready because lots of people will be coming and we all have to get dressed. Even me!" Sanosuke informed  
  
At this Kenji took a good look at his uncle who was wearing a green gi instead of his normal clothes.  
  
"I DON'T WANNA WEAR THAT THING!!!" Kenji yelled, pointing at the kimono, as he viciously kicked at Sano who was struggling to keep hold of the squirming child.  
  
Kenshin lost his patience. "Kenji -chan, if you don't go inside and put this kimono on I'll tell all the guests not to give you your gifts." He said this in a low tone of voice that wasn't scolding yet demanding. Kenshin was extremely busy and his sons' whining was beginning to aggravate him.  
  
Sano dropped Kenji in astonishment for he had never seen Kenshin use such a tone with his son and Kenshin immediately regretted his action once he saw Kenji's expression change from anger, to surprise, to sadness as he took the kimono from his father and trudged inside with his eyes downcast.  
  
"Whoa Kenshin! I'd never thought you'd speak to Kenji that way, Jou-chan, maybe but you? Your always a big softy with kids."

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Kenshin sighed, "I'm just tired."  
  
"There, that's better."  
  
Kaoru examined her son who was now wearing the kimono along with a pout on his face. She began to comb his hair.  
  
"Now, I want you to be on your best behavior. When a guest comes I want you to smile and say hello to them. If they have a present for you, say thank you first, then you take it, ok?  
  
Kenji's face brightened at the thought presents  
  
"Who's going to come?"  
  
"Hmm, lets see, Megumi-san and Dr. Genzai-san will be here after they finish at clinic. Okina and the others from the Aoiya will arrive by lunch. Hajime-san and his wife will come and so will Tae-san and others from town. Plus some family friends."  
  
"Ok!" Kenji beamed and left the room

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In the evening, after all the guests (and presents) had arrived everyone sat down for dinner at a table put up in the front yard. In the middle of the meal Okina stood and raised his cup of sake. "I would like propose a toast to Aoshi and Misao on their marriage."  
  
"Here, here." Everyone proclaimed and downed their sake. Kaoru stood and began refilling the empty cups.  
  
"I would also like propose a toast to our birthday boy." The old man continued  
  
"HERE, HERE!"  
  
Kenji giggled  
  
All of a sudden the front gate opened and a man stepped in. He was wearing a western style black shirt with dark blue pants made of an unfamiliar, tough material. The man was also wearing heavy boots.  
  
"I'm looking for Kenji Himura"  
  
Kenji immediately got up and went up to greet the man before anyone could stop him.  
  
The man grabbed Kenji by the collar and took out a dagger from his boot.  
  
"Kenji Himura, prepare to die."

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A/N: How is it? I'm not that good with Japanese so I'm trying to make a list of word and translations. And will someone please tell what kind of clothes they wore in the Meiji era? (Sigh) I'll be finished with the next chapter soon. That's when the story begins to unfold.


	2. The Team Arrives

A/N: I was really busy over the weekend so I didn't get to writing in a while. Like I said this was a daydream I had and it wasn't from the Kenshingumi's point of view either so I have to edit it from memory. This is harder than I thought. And by the way in this fic Sano and Megumi have been married for a year. Ok then, on with the story!

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Chapter 2

Kenji could only watch as the assailant brought the dagger down in a wicked movement atop his head. Those seated at the table watched on in horror, too shocked to move. Suddenly, there was a clang of metal. Out of nowhere, someone appeared and blocked the man's attack with a pair of numb chucks just before the weapon came in contact with Kenji's head.  
  
"You!" the attacker yelled  
  
The other person simply hit him on the side of his head, watched as he slumped to the floor then turned around and examined the small boy.  
  
"Are you alright Kenji-san?" asked a female voice  
  
Kenji nodded and ran back to his mother, wondering why this person had said his name with honorifics since she clearly was older than him. Kaoru hugged him, checked him over, and then hugged him again. Sanosuke was the first to recover from the initial shock.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked  
  
The young woman stepped into the light so they could see her clearly. Her hair and eyes were dark brown, almost black and they were sure she wasn't Japanese for her skin was a light brown in contrast to the creamy whites of all the others present. She appeared to be seventeen years old.  
  
"Sorry about that," she said in perfect Japanese "my name is Sarah. As for why I'm here, it would be a lot easier for me to explain when the rest of my group gets here.  
  
"Group?" Kenshin asked  
  
"Please, go on with your celebration, I will come back when you've finished. Then I'll explain everything, ok?" Sarah turned to leave "Oh, and Happy Birthday to you Kenji-san." With that she walked out of the courtyard dragging the unconscious man behind her.  
  
Yahiko picked Kenji up  
  
"Kenji-san, huh?" He received a shrug and a burst of giggles in reply

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The party continued without any further interruption yet with an air of unease. Kaoru was constantly at Kenji's side and Kenshin kept one hand on the hilt of his sword the whole time. By midnight all of the guests had left except those who intended to stay the night namely Saitou & Tokio, Aoshi & Misao, the group from the Aoiya and Tsubame who was too tired to return home. It was then that Sarah returned.  
  
"The rest of my team is going too arrive soon, unless you'd rather wait until tomorrow?"  
  
Everyone (minus Tsubame) remained on the veranda.  
  
We're fine, that we are" Kenshin replied  
  
"Yes, and we never did thank you for saving Kenji." Said Kaoru  
  
"No problem, its part of my job"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I'll explain when everyone gets here and I don't think you'll have to wait much longer"  
  
As if on cue, a gust of wind blew through the courtyard and two small popping noises were heard. The bushes began to rustle and a moment later two figures walked out. After brushing themselves off they stepped into the light. Misao let out a gasp, for the taller of the two looked exactly Aoshi did when he was about twenty years old. Same icy blue eyes, same stoic manner, rigid posture, and even the same serious, non-smiling face. He was even wearing a black trench coat. Behind him was a younger boy who appeared to be around fourteen and was considerably shorter than his companion. They both had black hair falling into their faces but the younger boys eyes sparkled green as he grinned and waved to the astonished group on the veranda.  
  
"The others will be arriving shortly." The elder brother said in a flat tone  
  
"Yeah, when we left Megan was busy fixing her hair." Said the younger  
  
Sarah groaned  
  
Just then, four more popping noises sounded and four more people stepped out of the bushes.  
  
"Ouch! I think there's a twig in my shoe!" said a muffled voice  
  
The voice belonged to a thirteen-year old boy with spiky brown hair similar to Sanosuke's but a bit shorter. Behind him stood a fifteen-year-old girl with long black hair and brown eyes.  
  
"Stop whining chicken head." she said  
  
"Don't call me that!"  
  
"Chicken head!"  
  
"SHUT UP!!!"  
  
"Make me!"  
  
"You guys!" said another boy as he stepped in between the two. He had spiky black hair and looked much like Yahiko except he was a few inches taller and had blue eyes.  
  
"This isn't a very good first impression you're making."  
  
They turned to look at him.  
  
"What will they think of us if they see you arguing like cats and dogs?" He pointed toward the veranda with his chin.  
  
"Sorry." the combatants mumbled  
  
Sarah surveyed the group "Almost everyone. Where are Kenny and Krista?"  
  
"They were right behind us." The older girl said  
  
True to her word, three more popping sounds and two figures emerged. The first was a eighteen year old girl who had the same skin tone as Sarah but the same hair and sapphire blue eyes as Kaoru. The second was a seventeen- year old boy and it was Kaoru's turn to gasp now for he could've been Kenshin's twin if it hadn't been for the fact that he also had light brown skin and that he was six inches taller than Kenshin. He was also carrying a young girl in his arms.  
  
"Sorry we're late, Tracey was napping." The girl said indicating to the child.  
  
Sarah nodded. "Everybody, this is my team."

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A/N: How is it? I wasn't sure whether to make the descendants resemble the Kenshingumi or not. Plus there was the black out so I couldn't use the computer. Does anyone know is his last name is Saitou or Hajime? It confused me 'cause they write the names backwards. Thanks to SeleneC and Mango for reviewing. 


	3. The Introductions

A/N: Nothing important here. Have fun reading.

_Italics_- people's thoughts

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Chapter 3

Sarah nodded. "Everybody, this is my team."  
  
The group on the veranda could only stare for they weren't sure of what they had just witnessed.  
  
"It's a bunch of kids." Sano murmured  
  
"I'm not a child." said the man who resembled Aoshi in an icy tone giving Sano a death glare.  
  
Sanosuke glared back _Jerk_  
  
Sarah, sensing danger, said, "Well, before I start explaining let me introduce everyone." She turned and started pointing at different members of their group. "That's Adam and Mike Shinomori," she said pointing towards the two brothers who arrived first. "Adam's the older one." Adam bowed his head slightly while his younger brother smiled.  
  
"Call me Mikey, everyone does."  
  
_Shinomori?_ Everyone on the veranda thought.  
  
"Over there," continued Sarah "are Megan and Sunny Sagara." She was referring to the two who had been arguing earlier.  
  
"Hi!" said Megan  
  
"How's it going?" replied Sunny  
  
"Next to them is Yancy Myojin" The boy acknowledged the group with nods.  
  
"Lastly, there's Ken and Krista Johnson," she was referring to the two siblings who arrived last "and..."  
  
Sarah took the child from Kens' arms  
  
"Tracey Saitou."

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A/N: I know it's short. I just felt like typing. Please review because the more reviews I get the faster I'll update and if you don't review I'll take over your mind. HAHAHA! (I'm suffering from a lack of sanity.)  
  
Bubbles


	4. Authors Note

Hi everybody! This is another authors note. I'm still working on the fourth chapter for this story which has currently reached a length of nine pages which is probably the most I've ever typed for a chapter so far. I apologize for the delay but I haven't had sufficient time to actually sit and write at a steady pace. ( God, I sound like I'm writing a report or something.) Anyway, I'm constantly rewriting and editing parts of the story so you guys are going to have to bear with me at bit longer.  
  
Bubbles 


	5. Brief Explanations, Shocking Revelations

A/N: Hi everyone. Yes, I'm finally back. Sorry about the delay, it took forever to finish this chapter. During the time that it took me to finish this chapter, I bought both the Trust and Betrayal DVD's, which I thought were great except during the first scenes because I wasn't expecting so much blood (thanks to the editing people at Cartoon Network) but I got over it. I'm recommending these movies to anyone who thinks Kenshin is girly because he wears pink. I also got the first three copies of the Rurouni Kenshin manga which are great and are helping a lot in this story.  
  
Reminders/Changes: Okay the whole italics representing stuff said in English and the brackets for peoples thoughts was beginning to annoy me so I changed it:  
  
Words in English = {English}   
  
Peoples thoughts = _Italics  
_  
There, that makes more sense. Now that's finished, on with the story.  
  
Disclaimer: "I don't own any of the characters of Rurouni Kenshin because I'm poor but I do own Sarah, Ken, Adam, Mikey, and all the other original characters in this story. This means no lawsuits."

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Chapter 4

The people on the patio looked at Sarah like she was crazy. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Shinomori? Sagara? Myojin? Were these people related to them in some way? And if so, what would they have to protect Kenji from? Why had that man tried to kill Kenji? Millions of questions were running through their heads and no one knew what to ask first. It was Sarah who broke the silence.  
  
"Now that we're all acquainted I can tell you why we're here. May we all please go inside?  
  
Kenshin touched the hilt of his sword in unease but Kaoru nodded and ushered them into the Kamiya dojo followed closely by the others. She didn't no why but for some strange reason she trusted these people.

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As Kenshin took a seat opposite Sarah along with Aoshi, Yahiko, Krista and Ken he noticed that most members of the newly arrived group carried a weapon with them.  
  
Adam stood against the wall with what looked like two kodachi, one looking fairly new and the other looked, well, ancient. Kenshin was positive it was more then a hundred years old and yet it seemed vaguely familiar to him. Kenny carried both a long and a short sword. Mike, Yancy, and Sunny all carried daggers but Kenshin noted that Mikey was idly twirling a kunai with his fingers and Yancy also had a sword. Sarah carried a sword and a strange type of bag shaped like a sausage. Krista carried a thin case made of what looked to be like black leather and Megan carried a square white case that had red colored symbol on it which resembled a Christian cross.  
  
Sarah looked up at them and began thinking that she had to tell them sooner or later.  
  
"Alright then, I'm going to be brief, Kenji is in great danger, but since you probably know that, I'm going to explain why. You see, about one hundred twenty years from now, a man named Yukio Matshiro will take control of Japan. He will do this by convincing the Japanese people that they should return to the traditional way of living, as it was before the Meiji Era. He leads them to believe that the ways of the Western world are 'impure' and that the only way to cleanse themselves is to attack its source."  
  
"In other words, the United States of America and almost every other western civilization with relations to them." Ken interjected  
  
Sarah nodded. "Matshiro is using Japans influence in the technological industry to gain power and so far his plan has been successful. He has already gained power over China, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Northeast Asia. Unfortunately, most of the world is unaware of this crisis and he has also begun sending faulty and rather destructive products to the more unsuspecting countries."  
  
Sarah paused. She looked at each of their faces and then continued.  
  
"Judging by the looks on some of your faces I'm guessing that all of this means nothing to you. Since that seems to be the case, I'll just move on to why Kenji's in danger but before I do that I must first tell you who we are and what we are doing here. You see, we're from the future. The year 2007 to be exact and this may come as a bit of a shock for all of you but each of my comrades are in fact descendants of you who are present here."  
  
Sarah finished here, closing her eyes, bracing herself for the reaction but none came. Upon opening her eyes, she found that they were all staring at her.  
  
Sure, they had all imagined that they would be hearing something strange but none of them had expected this and now they sat waiting for someone to jump up and yell "Surprise!"  
  
"Look, I know it sounds absolutely nuts but it's all true." They all turned to look at the boy named Kenny "We are from the future, and we're all related. Aoshi-san, believe it or not, but Mike and Adam over there are really your great-great-great-grandchildren and it's the same for the rest of you." at this point Kenny looked rather flustered.  
  
After about thirty seconds passed Kenshin decided to speak.  
  
"Do you have any proof?"  
  
"I'm glad you asked, Kenshin-san. Aoshi-san, would you please be so kind as to place one of your kodachi on the table please."  
  
Aoshi looked at Sarah for a moment more before placing his visible kodachi on the table. At least he would have the concealed one to use if these 'visitors' tried something funny.  
  
"Adam."  
  
The elder brother removed the older of his two weapons and placed it besides Aoshi's and said  
  
"Go ahead Aoshi-sama, pick it up."  
  
Aoshi picked up the kodachi and examined it. His eyes widened. Then he picked up his own kodachi and examined it as well.  
  
"They're both the same." he exclaimed in a whisper  
  
He looked up "They're both the same. I know it. They even feel the same. The only differences are that this one," he indicated to the one belonging to Adam "has aged and been used more judging by the looks of it."  
  
No one said anything, they just stared at him.  
  
"They're both mine."  
  
_So that's why it looked so familiar,_ thought Kenshin. _It's the same one Aoshi tried to kill me with. Twice.  
_  
Yahiko had been sitting silently until now, absorbing all of this. He just couldn't understand it. It sounded so absurd. The future, ha! This had to some weird joke. He wasn't even married.  
  
Then why did it all sound so convincing.  
  
"Let me get this straight, your from the future, we're all your great grandparents or something like that and you're here to protect Kenji from...........?"  
  
At this moment the child in Krista's arms began to stir.  
  
Saitou had been eyeing the child for some time now, wondering whether she was actually related to him in some weird way or if it was just some trick concocted to confuse the Battousai and the other idiots. The child did have high cheek bones similar to his but not as pronounced, more like Tokio's. Other than that, the child didn't look anything like him but then again, if these people were telling the truth then there was at least a hundred year gap between him and this child so they wouldn't be twins or anything like that.  
  
Then the child opened her eyes and he saw that they were the same amber color as his.  
  
Tracey yawned, and then hopped into Sarah's arms.  
  
{"Mommy, can we go home now?"}   
  
{"Soon but first Mommy's got to finish talking to these nice people."}  
  
Tracey turned her head and examined them with a look of curiosity in her eyes. When she reached Saitou she looked at him for a good minute before turning back to Sarah.  
  
{"Okay."}

She then proceeded in burying her face into her mothers' neck and falling asleep once again.  
  
Sarah watched the child do this and then acknowledged the rest of them.  
  
"Why don't we just wait until tomorrow to explain the rest? I think we should all get some rest seeing as today was a rather busy day."  
  
Even though they all wanted to hear more, they decided that it would be best if they had more time to think about and process what they had just heard.  
  
The newcomers rose and began to leave when Kenny turned around.  
  
"Me and Sarah will come back tomorrow around noon. There are some things you should see."  
  
Kenshin nodded and watched as the strange group left the yard of the Kamiya dojo.  
  
"Let's get some rest."

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{"Think they believed us?"}  
  
Sarah looked at the red-head.  
  
{"For their sakes, let's hope they did."}  
  
Kenny looked at the stars above him for a moment and then spun around to face his best friend, a shocked look on his face.  
  
{"Oh shit! I forgot to study for the math test tomorrow. If I fail again, I'll lose credit, and if I don't get credit, I won't be able to graduate and if I don't graduate I'll probably end up pumping gas for a living. Not to mention Mom'll kill me."}  
  
Sarah rolled her eyes.  
  
{"Calm down dummy. First off, you've only failed once and you haven't been absent long enough to lose credit, secondly, I highly doubt you'll ever end up pumping gas for a living because you can't even pump your own gas without spilling it, and third, you've got a hundred years to study. We're in the Meiji Era, remember?"}  
  
She knew for a fact that Kenny was really a very smart person, who knew very well what time period he was in but was always willing to act dumb just to make people laugh.  
  
He gave her a confused look which quickly changed to exasperated one.  
  
{"C'mon Sarah. You've got to stop worrying so much. Tomorrow we show them the base, they understand, we give them a day to pack and then we bring them to a safe place where they can stay until Matshiro's stopped and then we can all go home. End of story."}  
  
Sarah thought about this. Kenny did have a knack about being right about things like this. After puzzling over it for a bit more she held out her pinky finger.  
  
{"Promise?"}  
  
Kenny took her finger in his.  
  
{"Promise."}  
  
{"And if anything goes wrong, not only will I make your life a living hell, you'll have to wash my car for a year, go to school in a pink bunny suit for a day and hop around the entire soccer field ten times, in front of the whole team during practice."}  
  
She then let go of his finger and walked off to join the rest of the group, leaving a very confused Kenny behind.  
  
{"Wait... what?"}

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A/N: Thank God! I finally posted. I know you all want an explanation to why this chapter took so long and here it is. Technically, I had finished this part of the story about seven months ago (before the first marking period ended) but since I wanted to end this chapter at a certain place I kept working on it. But I've finally realized that it would take me forever and it was unfair to all the readers of this story and to all my wonderful reviewers. So, I've decided to simply cut my huge chapter (which was 14 pages long) into smaller chapters. As far as this chapter goes, I know the details around Matshiro are a bit flaky but I'll tell you more about him and how he took over those countries in coming chapters.  
  
To the reviewers:  
  
Mango: That's a good question but you're just going to have to keep reading to find out since I don't want to spoil anything. I'll tell you this though, one of the brothers are going to tell Aoshi something that'll rock his world, but that's much later on in the story.  
  
BabyKaoru-Sama: Oh no! Don't die on me now! Hehe! Thank you for your review and the e-mail. The Kenshin animation was so cute! You deserve another thank you because you were the first person to compliment my writing, ever. Sorry I made you wait so long for this chapter.  
  
Draculina Van Hellsing: Yes I know the dumb rule. Grr... Thanks for the review. Alucard should make more cookies, they tasted yummy!  
  
Mayako: I'm glad you liked my idea. There's a lot more to come, I can promise that.  
  
Okay! That's it for the reviewers! Before I leave you I have to tell you one more thing. In the beginning of this chapter I said that I'd use italics for character thoughts but for some reason they aren't showing up when I post so you might not see them in this chapter. I've written to the FFNET people about this and I hope they fix it. Sorry!  
  
Review please! If you don't, I'll ask Kenny to... umm... loan you his bunny suit. I accept flames to since I don't mind people criticizing me unless the only thing they say is fuck you.  
  
P.S.: I have absolutely nothing against people who pump gas for a living, I know a bunch of people who do, and I think the state of New Jersey wouldn't be the same without them. (That was not meant to offend anyone from Jersey. It's an inside joke between some friends.)


	6. A Stroll to Darkness

Here's a short, yet purposeful chapter. I had forgotten that I had completed this and that it was all ready to go. So I thought "What the hell, I'll post it anyway and give the readers something to do." So that's what I did. You see? Everything I do is for all you wonderful readers out in fanfiction world. Hugs to you all!  
  
Mikey appears in the doorway of Bubbles' room, "Can I do the disclaimer?"  
  
"Sure, go right ahead."  
  
"Wait!" Sunny yelled as he ran into the room sending Mikey flying "You said I could do the disclaimer."  
  
"I did? Oh yeah!" slaps forehead  
  
"So now what do we do?" asked Mikey while rubbing a big bump on his head.  
  
"Hmm, how about Sunny does the disclaimer this time and Mikey does it next chapter?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Fine by me."  
  
Sunny: Bubbles over there doesn't own anything accept most of the junk in her room. She doesn't even own the computer she's using. All rights to Rurouni Kenshin belong to its creators.

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The next day, as promised, Sarah and Kenny both arrived at the Kamiya dojo, and they were both in Japanese attire. Kenny was wearing a forest green gi while Sarah was wearing a white kimono with a purple obi but this was not what the occupants of the Kamiya dojo noticed first. What they noticed was that both of them now had creamy white skin and one could easily see that they weren't any wearing makeup.  
  
"Are you guys all set?"  
  
"Yes, we're ready but we'll have to wait until Aoshi and Misao return from the train station. They are seeing off the rest of the Oniwabanshuu." Kaoru replied  
  
"Alright."  
  
The pair sat down on the porch and Kenny pulled a narrow box from the sleeve of his gi. He opened it and removed a wooden flute from inside. After rolling it around in his fingers for a bit, he raised it to his lips, closed his eyes, and played.  
  
Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen.  
  
The melody was a sweet one and it was different from the airy sound of the Japanese flute that they were used to hearing. They listened as the sound increased and decreased, the tempo changing with it and soon, it began to remind them of water flowing down a stream.  
  
After a while, the sound become softer and softer until finally it stopped and Kenny opened his eyes to see them all staring at him, in a sort of dream state. He also noticed that Aoshi and Misao had been standing at the gate, listening to his serenade. He smiled.  
  
_Works every time._  
  
"Well, why don't we get going now?"  
  
Yahiko stood up first.  
  
"Just where exactly are we going?"  
  
"To our base, so that we can prove that we're telling the truth."  
  
"And just where is this so called 'base'?"  
  
"It's on the other side of town, past the Akebeko."  
  
"Fine, that means we can drop Tsubame off on the way."  
  
He turned and walked out of the courtyard, and everyone else followed.  
  
Before they left the dojo, Saitou pulled Aoshi, Kenshin and Sanosuke aside.  
  
"You should already know what I'm about to tell you but since we have the rooster here I might as well say it. They may not seem dangerous but after seeing that girl take that attacker down with one hit I don't think we should let our guards down."  
  
"I guess we should trust your canine instinct, shouldn't we?" Sano retorted, being a bit ticked off for being called a rooster.  
  
"Yes. At least now we know that bird-brain of yours isn't completely useless."  
  
"Why you —"  
  
"I think we should catch up with the others that we should."  
  
They hurried off, Saitou smirking, Sano muttering curses under his breath and Aoshi shaking his head at both of them. (A/N: In this story Aoshi's lightened up a bit since he told Misao how he loved her [ -yay!] and they got married. How could he not? It's Misao we're talking about here.)

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After dropping off both Tokio and Tsubame at their homes, they had continued walking past the town and where Sanosuke used to live. (He and Megumi now live in a house in somewhere between the dojo and clinic.)  
  
Soon Sarah, who was leading the group left the road, and turned onto a path in the woods before they reached a bridge that went over a stream. This surprised Sanosuke because he had gone fishing in the stream countless times and he had never seen this path before.  
  
After walking for about 10 more minutes, they reached a large field and saw an average looking house situated in its center. Beside it they saw a man and a woman that looked to be his wife plowing the field. They looked up when they heard the group coming and they jumped into salute when they caught site of Sarah and Kenny.  
  
"As you were."  
  
They returned to their plowing, while the rest of the group eyed them.  
  
Kenny walked up the steps and held the door open.  
  
"It's right in here, just follow Sarah."  
  
One by one they all entered the house, Kenshin with one hand on his sword and the other on Kaoru's shoulder as she in turn held Kenji. Normally they would've have left the boy at Dr. Genzai's but they weren't going to take any chances.  
  
To their surprise the house was perfectly normal on the inside as well. They followed Sarah into a bedroom and watched a she moved the mattress and revealed a wooden door in the floor.  
  
"Hey, what's that?"  
  
Sarah looked up at the little boy and smiled.  
  
"You're about to find out Kenji-san."  
  
With that she removed a small blue card from her obi and lifted the door. Underneath, there seemed to be another door, this one made of a shiny metal, with a handle, what appeared to be two small glass bumps, and a small slit in between them.  
  
Sarah inserted the blue card into the slit, causing one of the bumps to light up with a red color. She then grasped the handle and began to turn it clockwise. The handle stopped with a click and the second bump lit up green. The door opened and they could see a flight of steps descending down into darkness.  
  
"Well, we're almost there and I'm going to have to ask you not to touch anything since people are working."  
  
She then began to descend the steps. The others looked at each other warily causing Kenny to chuckle.  
  
"Don't worry. There's nothing to be afraid of." sounding as if he were talking to children.  
  
Saitou regarded the boy for a moment before going down the steps himself. He refused to be treated as if he was some kind of coward.  
  
The others soon followed suit and Kenny being the last one shut the door behind him, plunging them all into darkness.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
A/N: Oh!!!!! Cliffhanger! Mwahaha! Tune in next time to find out what happens on another episode of "The Dawn of Time."  
  
Sunny rolls his eyes. "You are so weird..."  
  
"No one asked you." turns back to readers "Well, now that that's all done, I've got a little guessing game for all of you."  
  
"You may not know it now, but one of our happy couples are expecting a baby! Yay! Now, I'm not going to tell you who it is because that's up to you guys to figure out." Who is going to have a baby? That is the zillion dollar question. Give me your guess via review or e-mail please! The answer will be revealed in the next couple of chapters."  
  
Mikey looks at her "Umm, just so you know, there's no such thing as a zillion dollars."  
  
Bubbles ignores him.  
  
"If anyone guesses correctly before I post the chapter with the answer, I will give them a plushie of their favorite bishie from ANY anime. I've got a whole vault of them somewhere..."  
  
Sunny hears a creaking sound in the hall and opens the door to see Megan creeping by with Aoshi, Sesshomaru, and Seto plushies.  
  
She looks up at him "What?"  
  
Sunny sighs and closes the door "Nothing..." _I'm surrounded by weirdos._  
  
To the reviewers:  
  
Moonmage: I'm glad you like this story. Thanks for your review!  
  
BabyKaoru-Sama: She lives! Yay! I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure that Kenshin will be saving the day atleast once in this story. Kenji, on the other hand will seem to run right into trouble more than avoiding it. Ahh! I just love to keep people guessing. Thanks for the review.  
  
Mikey: Read and review please!


	7. Choosing Sides

A/N: Hey everybody! I'm back again. Wow! I don't think I've ever updated three chapters in three months. Anyway, here's the next installment to The Dawn of Time for you. Now, here with me to give you the disclaimer is Michael Shinomori! YAY!  
  
Mikey: .! Umm, Bubbles doesn't own any of the characters of Rurouni Kenshin because if she did, it'd suck and it wouldn't have as many fans as it does now 'cause she doesn't know any Japanese and Japanese history.  
  
Bubbles: You just had to tell everyone didn't you?  
  
------------------------------  
  
Chapter 5  
  
{"You idiot!"}  
  
{"Sorry! Where the hell's the light switch?"}  
  
Sarah groped along the wall trying to find it while the rest of them tensed. They didn't exactly like the fact that they were in the dark, on a rather steep flight of stairs with two complete strangers on either side of them whispering to each other in a language that they didn't understand. Aoshi was the only one who remained at ease. He had gotten the chance to learn some English in the course of his studies and understood that it was merely an accident.  
  
Sarah finally found the switch and turned it on and they continued their trek down the steps. When the bottom landing came into view the sound of people talking and moving about began to reach their ears. Saitou was the first to reach the bottom after Sarah and he couldn't believe his eyes.  
  
He stood in the doorway of a very large room filled with people either rushing around with papers or seated along rows of tables, staring at box shaped things which illuminated their faces as they tapped the desktops.  
  
_What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?  
_  
Everyone else was thinking along the same lines.  
  
------------------------------  
  
"This is the main floor of the base and probably where the most work is done," Sarah said as she said as she led them through the vast expanse of the room "surveillance, tracking, communications, hacking, that sort of stuff."  
  
"Hacking? Do all these people have some kind of illness?" asked Kaoru  
  
Sarah shook her head and smiled. "No. You wouldn't understand."  
  
{"Sarah! Hey Sarah! Wait up!"} said a voice with a slight British accent.  
  
They turned to see who was calling from the midst of all the people and Kenshin nearly fell over from shock.  
  
There, standing before them, was none other than Enishi Yukishiro. No, wait, it wasn't Enishi, it was some one different. True, the person standing before them did look like Kenshin's former brother-in-law, but there were differences. For one, his hair wasn't pure white but more a mix of black and white streaks sticking up at various angles, secondly, his eyes were brown instead of turquoise blue, and third his voice was different.  
  
{"Hey, I see you convinced them to come." He said smiling toward them. "Just thought I'd let you know that we got a call saying that Matshiro supposedly has a warehouse in Matsue and that I've already sent a team to check it out."}  
  
Kenny glared him. {"Looks like you people finally managed to do something right. Bravo! Congratulations!"}  
  
{"What the hell is your problem Johnson?"}  
  
They both glared at each other, their obvious dislike for each other seemed to be radiating from their bodies.  
  
Sarah squeezed in between the two, pushing them apart.  
  
{"Cool it you guys. You can rip each others heads off later but first we've got to finish showing them around."}  
  
The white-haired boy rolled his eyes {"Whatever. I'll talk to you later."} He then looked at the others. "I'm pretty sure you all have questions but don't worry. They'll all be answered soon enough."  
  
With that he turned and walked away from them.  
  
"That was Eric Yukishiro. He's in charge of all our communications. We better keep going; there are still some things you have to see."  
  
They all began to move forward, pushing through the crowd of people but Kenshin remained stationary and thought.  
  
_So he was related to Enishi, but how? I don't think he had any kids. Then how...?_  
  
"Hey Kenshin! Are you coming or what?"  
  
Kenshin looked up to see everyone else waiting for him at the door.  
  
"I'm coming, that I am."  
  
------------------------------  
  
They exited the room into a quiet hallway which was also made of metal. Steel, to be precise. It gave the entire area a cold, eerie atmosphere, which was starting to make them all uncomfortable. Many smaller hallways branched off from the one they were in.  
  
"The base here in Tokyo isn't nearly as big the main one in our time but that's only because just about all the people who work here during the day return home after their shifts. Some, like Eric, prefer to stay here so that they can always be available if anything was to come up." Sarah explained as they continued to walk down the corridor.  
  
"The hallway to your right leads to the rooms where the women stay, while the one to the left lead to those of the men and since occasionally some of our workers are married, they have separate rooms to themselves in the last hallway down at the end."  
  
Sarah turned a left at one of the hallways and continued walking.  
  
"This hallway contains offices which aren't really important. What I wanted to show you was this."  
  
They had entered another room. This one contained nothing more than about four of the machines they had seen earlier along with a dark circle situated in the middle of the room.  
  
Sanosuke looked upon all this with a look of confusion and slight anger.  
  
"This? This is what you wanted to show us? What the heck is it and how the hell is it supposed to prove to us that you guys are really telling the truth?"  
  
Sarah looked at him with an equally confused expression (o.o) before continuing.  
  
"Oh! Umm, this is actually how we travel through time. I thought you might've wanted to see it."  
  
Kenny smirked, not used to seeing his friend mess up. "Smooth."  
  
She regained her composure and glared at him.  
  
"What I really wanted to show you is this."  
  
She walked over to one of the machines, pressed a few buttons, causing a large black screen to emerge from the ceiling. They all jumped back in surprise as the same screen lit up and an image of the upper half of a man's body appeared and began to speak, once again in English.  
  
{"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. This is Peter Jennings with breaking news. Today, in Japan, the United States Embassy burst into flames at around ten in the morning. News crews from around the world, including our own were already assembled at the Embassy to broadcast a speech to be given by Don Kramer, U.S. Ambassador to Japan. They were witness to the catastrophe. We go to Jon Mitchell for more on this but before we do; we must warn you that some of these images are very graphic so you may wish to have smaller children leave the room."}  
  
The screen then flashed with the image of a stately looking building and a man walking to a podium in front of it. The next instant, there was a load roar and the building seemed to be enveloped in flames, sweeping away the man at the podium along with it as people screamed and ran around in panic. A man was talking in English throughout all this but they weren't paying attention because a man who looked Japanese had burst from the building, his clothes on fire. They could clearly hear his agonized cries for help and Kenshin couldn't help but be reminded of Shishio. Many more disturbing scenes continued after this and soon, another Japanese man appeared on the screen, his clothes charred and black in color. Half of his face was covered in white bandages, and when he spoke, his voice, already hard to hear under that of the translators, quivered making his Japanese difficult to understand.  
  
"I was in my office when it happened. The explosion seemed to come from the other side of the building. Soon the blast ripped through the walls... the shock waves slamming me into the large window and right through it, the shards of glass cutting at my skin and the immense heat seemed to surround me. I thought I had gone to hell."  
  
After this, another Western man appeared on screen and spoke for a few more moments.  
  
Peter Jennings then returned to the screen with a solemn look on his face.  
  
{"An estimated two hundred people have been said to be dead and the number continues to rise. The reason the number is so high is because the time of the explosion was normally the time when most of the Embassy workers are inside the building. Although no cause has been found for the explosion, the authorities have not ruled out terrorism."}  
  
Sarah pressed another button and the screen went blank, returning to its place in the ceiling.  
  
"You see, that happened only yesterday in our time, and that is only a small sample of Matshiro's cruelty. What's worse is that he is planning on doing the same thing to Kenji-san. If we don't act quickly, then we probably won't stand a chance. It has been decided that you should all come back to our time with us because it is sure that he will go after all of you next."  
  
No one said anything, all too shocked about what they had just seen and for some reason, it seemed much worse than anything anyone of them had ever faced, including the Bakumatsu. It just didn't make any sense. Why did they have to be dragged into the middle of everything?  
  
"He will go after each and every one of you," Sarah continued "because each of you has a relation to us. Even you Saitou-san. You play a much bigger part in this than simply being a little girl's great-grandfather. The choice is yours and yours alone. I can't force you to do anything. So choose, you can either remain here, practically handing a little boy over to death, or you can come with us and we can at least try our best to ensure your safety."  
  
She looked at them with pleading eyes and a calm face while Kenny shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable about it being so quiet.  
  
_The choice is yours.  
_  
------------------------------  
  
A/N: Man! I seriously didn't want to update at this part of the story but I have two reasons why I updated.  
  
1) A couple of people were asking/ e-mailing me to update soon, and asking why I didn't update. This wasn't a huge reason for me to update but it was still one of them.  
  
2) No one, I mean absolutely no one guessed who was going to have a baby. I would want at least one person to take a guess. The answer is coming up in the next chapter and I don't want it to be completely pointless. Here's a hint: It's no Kenshin and Kaoru.  
  
To the reviewers:  
  
Ken Johnson: I love you too! Thanks for your reviews. And watch out for the bunnies!  
  
Samantha (Sammi): Thanks a bunch for your review!  
  
BabyKaoru-Sama: Gomen nasai Kaoru-sama! I'm really sorry about these small chapters but you're going to have to bear with them for a bit longer.  
  
Draculina Van Hellsing: Thanks for your review.  
  
Alright people, that's all I have to say for now. Please review and take a guess at who's going to have a baby. Please review.


End file.
